Babism is the doctrines of a Muslim messianic Shiite sect. Founded in 1844 by the Persian Sayyid Ali Muhammad of Shiraz known as the Bab ed-Din (the gate or intermediary between man and God), who declared himself to be the long-awaited Mahdi. For inciting insurrection the Bab was arrested in 1848 by the government and executed in 1850, his remains being interred in 1909 on MountCarmel, Palestine. In 1863 Baha'ullah and his son Abdul Baha declared themselves the new leaders, and their followers became known as the Baha'is. Research Babism
Christoph Willibald Ritter Von Gluck was a German composer of operas. He was born in 1714 at Bavaria and died in 1787. When a boy he became a chorister, and acquired some skill on the harpsichord and organ. At eighteen years of age he went to Prague to enter the university, where he maintained himself by the exercise of his musical gifts.
By degrees he attracted the attention of several Bohemian nobles, and Prince Lobkowitz assisted him when he went to Vienna to pursue his musical studies, The Lombardian prince di Melzi then took him to Milan, where he studied under Giovanni Battista Sammartini, a famous organist and composer.
In 1740 he was employed to compose an opera for the court theatre of Milan. The text chosen for him was the Artaxerxes of Metastasio, and the opera was a triumph, in spite of the innovations of style which the author introduced.
In 1742 he wrote Demofoonte for Milan; Demetrio and Ipermnestra for Venice; in 1743 Artamene for Cremona, and Siface for Milan; in 1744 Fedra for the same theatre;
and in 1745 Allessandro nell' Indie for Turin, all founded on classical subjects. Invited to London, he produced La Caduta de Giganti (Fall of the Giants), which was not a success. In London Gluck became deeply impressed with the majestic character of Handel's airs and choruses, and with the simple but natural dramatic style of Dr. Arne. This visit to London, and a short trip to Paris, helped to develop that lyric genius which was destined to create a new order of musical composition.
After producing many pieces of the usual class of opera at Paris, Vienna, Rome, and Naples, he returned to Vienna. The Trionfo di Glelia (1762) was the last of his operas in his first style. However well pleased the public was with his music, he was not so. He felt himself continually cramped by the character of the libretti of Metastasio, who had hitherto furnished him with texts, which were rather lyrical dramatic poems than genuine dramas. The composer at last found a poet in the person of Raniero Calzabigi, who sympathized with him in his ideas, and the result of their co-operation was the Orfeo ed Euridice, performed publicly for the first time in 1762. This opera marked a new era. The fame it acquired at once it never lost. Various works of lighter character filled up the interval between this year and 1766, when his second great opera of Alceste was produced, which raised public feeling to the point of enthusiasm.
In his dedication of this work to the Grand-duke Leopold of Tuscany he enunciates the principles of the new school, which shortly were that the opera should be a musical drama, not a concert in costume; that the text must be descriptive of real passion; that the music must voice fully the spirit of the text; that in accompaniments the instruments must be used to strengthen the expression of the vocal parts by their peculiar characters, or to heighten the general dramatic effect by employing them in contrast to the voice. Gluck now became convinced that his system must be tested on a wider field, and believed that the Royal Opera in Paris offered all a composer could demand. A Frenchman of culture and genius, Bailly du Rollet, adapted Racine's Iphigenie en Aulide for musical treatment, and after a considerable amount of opposition from the musical critics of the old Italian and French school, at that time represented in Paris by Piccini, the piece was brought out in 1774. The intensest excitement prevailed; all Paris took sides, and for a long time the Gluckists and Piccinists contended with much bitterness, but ultimately the victory remained with the Gluckists.
Shortly after the production of the Iphigenie, the Orfeo was adapted for and put on the French stage, and was followed by the Armide in 1777, by the Iphigenie en Tauride in 1779, Gluck's last important work, and by many considered his greatest. It ends the series of works which gave a direction to the operatic genius of Mehul and Cherubini in France, and of Mozart and Beethoven in Germany. Research Christoph Von Gluck
Giordano Bruno was an Italian philosopher. He was born in 1548 at Nola and died in 1600 when he was burned for apostasy, heresy and violation of his monastic vows. He entered the order of Dominicans, but was accused of impiety, and, after enduring much persecution, fled from Rome about 1577 to Geneva. Here he was soon persecuted in turn by the Calvinists, and travelled slowly through southern France to Paris, where he was offered a chair of philosophy, but declined to fulfil its conditions of attendance at mass.
He lectured for some time, however, but in opposition to the antiquated Aristotelianism of the time and in exposition of a logical system based on the ArsMagna of Raymond Lully. In 1583 he went to London, where he published several of his works, and to Oxford, where he taught for a short time. In 1585 he went by way of Paris and Marburg to Wittenberg, and from 1586 to 1588 taught his philosophy there. He next went to Prague and to Helmstedt, where he remained until 1589; thence to Frankfort until 1592; and finally to Padua, where he remained until the inquisition of Venice arrested him and transferred him to Rome.
After an imprisonment of seven years, during which he steadfastly refused to retract his doctrines, he was burned, February 16th, 1600, for apostasy, heresy, and violation of his monastic vows. Most of his works were published between 1584 and 1591, the chief being the Cena de la Ceneri (AshWednesday Table-talk, dialogues giving an exposition of the Copernican theory); the Spaccio della Bestia Trionfanfce (Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast, a moral allegory); the Delia Causa, Principio edUno; and the Dell Infinito, Universe, e Mondi - all in 1584; the Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo in 1585; and the three metaphysical works, De triplici Minimo et Mensura; De Monade, Numero et Figura; and De Immense et Innumerabilibus - all in 1591. His doctrines form a more complete Pantheistical system than had been previously exhibited, and represent the highest level of the thought of the period. Research Giordano Bruno
Mohammed Shems Ed Din Hafiz was one of the most celebrated and most charming poets of Persia. He was born in the beginning of the 14th century at Shiraz and died about 1390. He studied theology and law, sciences which, in Muslim countries, were intimately connected with each other. He preferred independent poverty as a dervish to a life at court, whither he was often invited by Sultan Ahmed, who earnestly pressed him to visit Bagdad. His poems, known collectively as the Divan, are Anacreontic in sentiment, abounding in the praise of love and wine. Research Mohammed Hafiz
Ed Asner is an American actor. He was born in 1929. He is best known for his role as 'Lou Grant' in the television series of the same name. Research Ed Asner
Abbreviations
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